You don’t want to lead with “Would you like to win a weekend hire of a Morgan?” at the Morgan Motor Company’s “Thrill on the Hill”. The standard response - “No thanks. I’ve already got one!” Or, in one particular case, I’ve already got 4! That said, the “Thrill on the Hill” was, indeed, a grand day out (as Wallace would say).
For the uninitiated it was hard to know which the car park and which the festival ground as Morgan after Morgan rolled up. At the Stoke Lacy Heritage Project stand we had our very own Morgan – a hard-working chap fresh out of school. So, for us, it was a case of Morgan2.
That great team at Morgan’s gave us the opportunity to run a stand to raise money and awareness for the project. (We still need to raise the last £30,000). Through “the fount of all knowledge on all things Morgan” Archivist Martyn Webb, they also gave us access to the Morgan family archives to make sure the stand was appealing and informative. Many happy hours were spent leafing through piles of vintage photos to decide which best told the story of the Morgan-Stoke Lacy connection.
The photographs, which are on view in St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church until August 19th, were mostly taken by the Reverend Henry George Morgan, H.F.S’s father. Not only was he Rector of the Church for 50 years, he was also a very talented photographer of the time. The display includes shots of his children, his grandchildren and, of course, various early versions of Morgans outside the Old Rectory and the Church. Many date from the end of the 1800s. If it’s true that the camera never lies, the images would suggest a very happy family enjoying life to the full.
We had the dream team of volunteers – Rob, Glynis, Tina, John, Mary, Alison, Morgan, Chris and Colin – with John giving us all a lesson in face-to-face selling. (How does he keep going?) We witnessed some rather dubious sales approaches too but what happens in Malvern, stays in Malvern. Colin Simmonds and Nigel Montandon, both artists residing in Stoke Lacy, kindly offered us limited edition prints of Morgans at the Old Rectory to encourage funds.